No Squatter Rights

I opened the backdoor to an unexpected surprise this morning.  Let's just say that it was aromatic.  I'll also say that there are a few smells that bring back fond childhood memories.  The smell of homemade bread reminds me of the days that we used to visit my aunt's house; arriving just as she was pulling fresh loaves of homemade bread from the oven.  The smell of fresh cut grass reminds me of haying season when the fields would be cut into long, wide swaths.  Today's smell was not pleasant and it was one that I would prefer to forget.

My old cottage had a crawl space underneath it that housed the furnace and the hot water tank.  The rain water over the years washed away the soil under the deck creating a hole that the neighborhood cats would enter.  I could not access the hole so those kitties had the ultimate spot to keep warm during the winter; curled up beside the furnace.

The cats were not the only critters in the crawl space.  They were accompanied by a skunk.  I happened to see it wander under the deck and each time would pray that the cats would not challenge it.

They lived a peaceful co-existence until spring when I came home from work, opened the back door, and was hit by wall of 'eau de skunk'.  My furniture, curtains, bedding, clothing, everything; smelled like skunk.  My eyes watered from the strong scent.  The peaceful co-existence exploded into a territorial battle sending the sickening smell through the cold air vents into my living space.  That meant war.

The skunk trap was delivered and baited.  The cats had to check things out and a couple of them got caught up in the trap before the skunk finally came to investigate.  Bingo.

I paid for two weeks use of the trap so when the county came to pick up the skunk, they brought another trap.  I laughed, thinking that it was not required.  Well, seven skunks later, I was feeling a bit more relaxed about crawling down into the pit to replace the furnace filter.

When I opened the door this morning and smelled a skunk, the memory of that smell made me shudder.  The only consolation was knowing that there would be no visitors of the smelly kind in the basement of my new home.

I don't know where 'Pepe le Pew' was this morning but I will be treading softly around my garden shed until I can determine that he/she is not a squatter underneath it.